I am frustrated. I am hot, I am tired, and I have no idea what I am doing. I am trying to drive the old blue farm truck. To be more specific, I am trying to drive the old blue stick shift farm truck. All day I have been helping my dad in the field, and now I am stuck at my grandparents’ house, a mere mile and a half from home and a hot shower. Dad asked me to drive the truck home. “Sure!” was my immediate response. I had always wanted Dad to teach me to drive a manual transmission, but his idea of teaching is a bit different from mine. “Always push in the clutch when you shift gears,” was his one piece of advice before he drove away. As I walk over to the old truck, I had no worries. I can do this. How hard can it be?

I hop up on the dusty seat with all the confidence in the world and turn the key. Nothing. I turn the key again. The truck will not start.

“Always push in the clutch when you shift gears.” Dad’s advice rings in my head.

Well, maybe that applies to starting the truck too. With my left foot I lightly push on the far left pedal, the clutch, and turn the key again. The engine groans and turns over! The truck still isn’t running, but this is progress. I push the clutch down as hard as I can and try again, and suddenly it starts! I am beyond excited; my temporary doubts disappear. I am on top of the world.

Now, how to make this vehicle move? “Always push in the clutch when you shift gears.” That sounds easy enough. I push in the clutch, pop the truck into high gear and release the pedal. Immediately I am back where I started; I have killed the engine. Well, that’s another way not to drive a stick-shift, I think.

“I wonder if driving a truck is like operating a tractor?” I say aloud as I restart the engine. When driving a tractor, you always start in low gear. As I push in the clutch again and shift into first gear, I cheer on the truck: “Come on, please, please go!” My wish is granted, the truck moves forward approximately two yards before it dies again.

“What am I doing now?” I practically scream. “If you don’t figure this out, you have to walk home!” Great, now I’m yelling at myself.

I take a deep breath, determined, and restart the truck. I think about the speed with which I am releasing the clutch pedal: maybe too slow? I push the clutch in, shift into low gear, and whip my foot off the clutch. The truck lurches forward and dies twice as fast as before. Maybe slower.

I am really good at starting the truck by now, since I have had ample practice. This time when I put it into low gear, I released the clutch very slowly and push on the gas with my right foot. It moves forward! I am actually moving!

My celebration is short lived as I realize I have to figure out how to shift gears. Once again, Dad’s single piece of advice rings in my head: “Always push in the clutch when you shift gears.” Push in clutch. Okay, I can do this. I push in the clutch and shift into fourth gear. The clutch starts shaking, and I hear the gears grinding. This cannot be how shifting is supposed to sound, I think, as the truck stalls once again.

I need to regroup. So far I have learned that I have to push in the clutch when starting the truck or it doesn’t start, I have to start in low gear or I will kill it, and I have to let out the clutch slowly. I start thinking about what lessons I can apply to what I still have to accomplish. Since it matters what gear I start in, then it probably matters what order I shift the gears too. So the next time I try shifting in order, and it works!

To say I then drive the truck home smoothly would be the overstatement of the century. I kill the engine at least ten times just trying to leave the driveway. I veer and throw gravel the whole way. I never give up though. I just restart the old truck and try again.

When I finally reach my road, I realize that I have another problem. How do I slow this piece of junk down? I follow my instincts and lightly brake while pushing in the clutch. When I feel the truck slow, I downshift and continue to slow until I can make the turn onto my gravel road.

I am bursting with excitement as I push in the clutch and brake to park the truck in the driveway. I cannot wait to tell my dad that I succeeded!

I think about the technique that Dad used to teach me this skill. At first I was frustrated that he hadn’t just gotten into the truck with me and told me every step to driving a manual vehicle. But I realize why he did it this way. I will never forget what I learned today, because to do it I had to discover 50 ways not to drive a stick-shift truck first. Had he just told me, I probably would not have this lesson so ingrained in my brain.

I am proud of myself for accomplishing what I set out to do, and I admit, my dad is actually one smart guy.